George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Bad Santa, Heartwarming Bones 5.10

Actually, the Santa only seemed to be bad at the beginning of Bones 5.10 - we later find that he was set up by bad people, he's really just an exterminator (of pests, not people) - but Bones 5.10 was indeed a heartwarming, winning winter solstice episode, with everyone at the table, including Emily Deschanel's real life sister Zooey, who plays Tempe's second cousin.

The holiday highlights include -

1. Bones undresses Booth, to locate shrapnel from the exploded Santa, but hey, whatever it takes.

2. Michelle wants to spend Christmas in Hawaii, but Cam eventually says no, so the two can spend Christmas together. It's good to see them close.

3. Great line from Bones, in response to the exploded Santa's mother saying her son wouldn't hurt a fly. "He's an exterminator," Bones replies, "by definition he hurts flies."

4. Zooey's character Margaret, who quotes Ben Franklin the way Bones cites science, has some pretty good lines too. The best, about Booth and Bones: "He that would fish, must venture his bait."

5. Jack and Angela have a good momentary scene. I still think, to borrow an expression from The Supremes, that someday they'll be together.

6. Bones has more compassion than ever - she doesn't want the exploded exterminator/Santa's mother to have to go to his funeral alone on Christmas day, because that would be "heartbreaking" for her. Booth reminds her and us that Bones would usually say that the heart is a muscle, and therefore can't really break - but it is a pleasure to see how far she's come along.

7. Ryan O'Neal's back as Bones' father. I wouldn't mind another episode with him in more close-to-criminal form.

About the only thing missing from this episode was the whole ensemble of graduate student lab assistants - most of all Zack Addy, who could have put in an appearance as the lab assistant of Christmas past. Well, maybe for the Easter episode...

About Me

Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication &
Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997),
Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the
subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science
Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).His short stories
have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.Paul Levinson appears on "The
O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"“NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),“Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous
national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of
television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of
Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

e-mail received from a reader:Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom